1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a reversing section for forming image on both the front surface and the rear surface of a sheet, particularly to an image forming apparatus having two horizontal conveying paths superimposed on each other and substantially parallel to each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, in order to form an image on a sheet, a photoreceptor is electrically-charged and then the electrical charges are erased according to a document image (i.e., the photoreceptor is so-called “exposed”), so that an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoreceptor. Thereafter, a developing section is used to cause the toner to adhere to the electrostatic latent image of the photoreceptor so as to form a toner image. Further, the toner image formed on the photoreceptor is transferred to the sheet through a transfer material such as an intermediate transfer belt or the like, and the toner image transferred to the sheet is fixed to the sheet by a fixing section, and thereby an image is formed on the sheet. Further, the sheet having the toner image fixed thereto is conveyed through a sheet conveying path.
Further, in the case where it is necessary to form images on both the front and rear surfaces of the sheet, the sheet is conveyed to a reversing section through the sheet conveying path. The reversing section has an upper-side horizontal conveying path, a lower-side horizontal conveying path, and a U-shaped connection conveying path, wherein the upper-side horizontal conveying path and the lower-side horizontal conveying path are superimposed on each other and substantially parallel to each other in the vertical direction of the apparatus main body, and the connection conveying path connects an upper reversing path and a lower reversing path.
When a sheet jam occurs in the reversing section, the reversing section shall be drawn out from the apparatus main body to perform jam handling operation. In an image forming apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-241454, a lower conveying section, which constitutes a conveying path unit, is drawn out from the conveying path unit, and a mirror surface is formed in a portion of the lower conveying section. The status of the jammed sheet in the lower conveying section can be confirmed from the mirror surface formed in the lower conveying section.